Consultant/contractual Job at Mastercard Foundation , Uganda and other Companies

JOB DETAILS:
ABOUT MASTERCARD FOUNDATION
Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. Through its Young Africa Works strategy and Canadian EleV program, the Foundation works with partners to ensure that millions of young people, especially young women, access quality education, financial services, and dignified work. Mastercard Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. The Foundation is independent with its own Board of Directors and CEO.

THE WORK AT THE FOUNDATION
We have entered a very exciting time at the Foundation as we scale up our operations across Africa to realize our Young Africa Works strategy. Our role at the Mastercard Foundation is to be a catalyst. Our Young Africa Works strategy focuses on working with others to spur systemic change so young people have the opportunity to find work that is dignified and fulfilling.
The Foundation has opened offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda, building a broader leadership presence in Africa to develop specific strategies that support youth employment. Within a country, we work with governments, the private sector, educators, young people, and other funders to improve the quality of education and vocational training, prepare young people for the work force, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and connect job seekers to dignified and fulfilling work.
We are ambitious and driven. Our values transcend and rise above everything else as our guide. We encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work. We laugh at ourselves and with each other. We are a team. Our journey together makes our impact even more meaningful.

UNDERSTANDING CANADA PROGRAMS AT THE FOUNDATION
The Foundation has begun working within Canada in partnership with Indigenous communities and post-secondary institutions to listen, learn, and best understand how we can act in meaningful ways. The EleV strategy was co-created with Indigenous communities, young people, and partners to enable 30,000 Indigenous youth to complete their education and transition to dignified work aligned with their values and aspirations.
As reflected in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, education is a key driver of improved socio-economic well-being. Through building partnerships with Indigenous communities, we look to expand our initiative ultimately helping to support a generation of transformative Indigenous young leaders who will be change agents within their communities. We believe that by setting a bold target, we will encourage engagement across sectors and create momentum that will elevate the strengths and opportunities of Indigenous youth. In keeping with our approach, Indigenous communities and young people will be the drivers of this transformation. The program will promote innovations to address longer-term systemic change to achieve economic prosperity and social well-being within Indigenous communities.
The EleV team oversees current and emerging partnerships related to Indigenous education. Consistent with our overall vision and Youth Africa Works strategy, we will share learnings and opportunities to connect across the work of the Foundation. While operating in distinct contexts, the centrality of youth voice and vision, affirmation of culture and identity, and priority to enhance community capacity for self-determination are common threads upon which our work is strengthened and reinforced.
If you are an experienced Program Consultant looking to increase your impact, read on!

THE OPPORTUNITY
The Program Consultant will be responsible for specific program(s) that provide solutions to address the constraints preventing entrepreneurial eco-systems from functioning effectively across sectors and focused on the Foundation’s commitment to enable dignified and fulfilling work for young women and young people in general. He/she will provide expertise and interact effectively with senior levels of partner organizations and ecosystem stakeholders to advance the development and delivery of the Foundation’s country strategy.

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE
Program design and re-design
• New Programs:
o Support the origination and design of interventions across the entrepreneurial eco-system in the small and growing business space,
o Integrate impact considerations to ensure the needs of young women and young people in general are addressed within the program design,
o Work collaboratively with the Country Program team in the development of strategies relevant to Young Africa Works in Uganda and their interlinkages across skilling, enterprise support services, market systems and access to finance.
• Existing Programs:
o Review of key lessons, critical learnings to date and identify success factors to scale the program efficacy,
o Review the enterprise support services model adopted to optimize market systems linkages between the beneficiaries and market actors in the eco-system,
o Review the Program’s inclusion approaches to date, support the partners identify gaps and critical challenges to reaching these excluded groups,
o Optimize collaboration and partnerships within the Young Africa Works network and beyond to accelerate scale and impact including Lead firms, Community Based Organizations, Sector associations and Youth groups.
• Delivery:
o Lead implementation of partnerships in the entrepreneurial eco-system initiatives with a focus on small and growing businesses across sectors,
o Extract, capture and communicate details to elaborate progress and learnings from programs to colleagues and the wider development,
o Collaborate with the Country Program team to leverage synergistic opportunities to enhance the Impact/outcomes of Young Africa Works programs,
o Analyze the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan for the program and develop an action plan for the development of data collection tools,
o Refine and streamline the communication and outreach strategy to speak to the target group and program objectives to guide the development of tactics,
o Represent the Foundation’s interest in programming governance activities, such as committees, or other stakeholders to provide oversight or elevate and leverage learnings,
o Working closely with implementation partners and beneficiaries to document systematic learning and reflection processes to enable continuous adaptive management of the program,
o Partner and guide implementation partner in identifying and overcoming barriers to team effectiveness by sharing knowledge and learnings while offering insights and possible solutions to issues and/or program challenges,
o Guide and support the partnership implementation team (matrixed/cross functional team) in a myriad of activities related to co-design and implementation phase.
• Expertise and thought leadership:
o Provide perspective and expertise on emerging issues and trends in small and growing business entrepreneurial ecosystem,
o Identify challenges and opportunities facing small and growing businesses that can be unlocked to drive job,
o Stay on top of developments in the MSME and financing space; new concepts, key partners, new information being generated, policy movements, important upcoming events, etc.
• Stakeholder management:
o Build relationships with partner organizations, communities of practice, and global,
o Assess the partner’s process and the program implementation to ensure alignment with Foundation policies, and procedures particularly around the code of conduct, and reporting standards.

WHO YOU ARE
• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Finance, Business, Economics and/or Financial Inclusion.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of experience in entrepreneurship programs and eco-system building initiatives with a sector-agnostic approach is highly preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years’ leadership and management experience in project management.
• Experience working in digital economy related programs in the region is an added advantage.
• Bilingual English oral and written language skills are preferred. The ability to speak a local language is highly preferred.
• Demonstrates a strong understanding of sustainable business model building and the role of system players including markets, finance and enterprise support in the growth and development of enterprises.
• Demonstrates a strong understanding of enterprise support models that have shown results and best practices for adoption.
• Understanding of the role of entrepreneurial support, organizations can play in catalyzing economic transformation and job creation for youth.
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills, the ability to think strategically and contribute as a thought partner in the Foundation’s strategy.
• Demonstrates strong budgeting skills, quantitative and qualitative business with the ability to manage a portfolio of assets.
• Excellent project management skills, including multi-stakeholder project, people skills and ability to coordinate technical and cross-functional teams.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• Demonstrate a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.
Deadline for Applications is December 14, 2022.